[653] Thanksgiving week

Some regrets.  This fall I made a decision to sit out of some of the races, and looking back, I have a bit of regrets of missing out on them.

Rock-n-the Knob. (no race report)  I was one of the race sweepers.  I enjoyed my sweeping duty but running in it would have been more fun.  I don’t remember why I sat out. Probably was in preparation for Grindstone.  I know, one can’t go back in time to change the past. Still, I think about the what-ifs. My philosophy has been, run every race I could. By sitting out, it didn’t help my Grindstone race (report).

Iron Mountain.  (race report) Another race I run almost every year.  I sat out too on this race this year.  I was volunteering and one of the sweepers.  I did enjoy the fast run as a sweeper.  Usually, sweeping is not a fast duty.  This one was.  I was trying to help the last guy to make his final cutoff.  We were also chased by the rain.  The guy out ran me at the final  couple miles.  It was fun.  Yet, looking at the big picture, I have my regret of missing out.  If I have run, I likely would not have finished the race.  I felt I was not as strong as previous years. I think I made a good decision to sit out, but the regret comes from the my fear-of-missing-out, not sure if there is a term for this (probably regret is the word I’m looking for). Can’t shake the feeling that I had definitely missed out.

JFK50. This is not a race I run every year.  This was the race that started me on the ultra trail running.  I ran it only twice, 2019 and 2022.  I said, I would run it again if any good friends of mine would do it with me. I sat out this year, like the previous year. It was not even in my plan to do this.  Last year, I was on the course to watch some runners.  I had a lot of fun cheering some familiar faces.  This year I was crewing for two runners. One is a good friend of mine and another is a guy who needed my help at the last minute.  I love helping people regardless if it was at a last minute.

It was good to help a friend especially a very dear friend who has been instrumental to my very own success of this year’s grand slam run.  I think for my part, I have done my job.  The crew transitioning could have done a bit faster.  There were questions I could have asked, like are the feet hurt, what can I do for them? (note, to carry Icy-Hot for future crewing). My runner required very little from me.  We did chat a bit longer at one of the crew stops.  Others tried to get their transition time down to a minute, I think ours were around 5 minutes.  My runner did not blame me. One runner finished the other did not.  There were nothing much I could have done for either of them.

I was doing pace calculations throughout the day on my runners, especially on the one who was struggling with the required pace. The cutoff was getting close.  I tried to believe finishing was still possible, but supported the decision when the runner called it quit. My runner accepted the inevitable.  As a runner myself, sometimes, I have trouble of calling it a day, like at Grindstone, I grinded out for another 6-7 hours, when I should have quitted earlier.  As a crew, it was good to not have to sway the runner one way or the other. Whatever the runner decided was the best course of action.

My runer did a good job of almost reaching 40 (39-ish) mile in 10 hours.  She had to maintain about 15 min-mile (15.5) pace to finish on time. Yes, she dropped 7 minutes before the cutoff call. She was on a 15.5-16 min pace. If she continued, she might make it there or might be 5 min after the final cut. It would have been a epic battle for the final 11.8 miles. I only had rough pace estimation throughout the day, so I could not decide one way or another to egg her on at the decision point, according to my own hand calculation, she was behind pace at the time, maybe by 10 mins, not saying she would not have a chance, but it would definitely difficult to play catch up. Personally, I think she needs to get to Taylors Landing by 4:15-4:30 pm, to give that buffer time needed for the final set of rolling hills.  Interesting, in 2022, she was at Taylors Landing’s timing mat at 4:28 pm,  (almost 10 mins ahead of this year). She was a bit slower this year, but not by much.

My regret at JFK was I did not get to run in the race. I saw a few friends who ran it.  I am sure they loved seeing out me there cheering. I do too to be a spectator for once. However, it would have been so much better if I have run. Probably it is, I was thinking to myself.  Even though, I think, it might have been a hard race for me. I made my decision not to run it was because of cost. There’s always next year.

In the past, I don’t have such a regret of missing out on things. I know I can’t run in every race.  I guess having regret is pretty normal. My own race will not be for another week. 

On a personal note, I am very thankful that this thanksgiving, I am in a relationship with a fine lady, who has been giving out hints for a long time. It goes down something like this: I think someone joked at our last marathon together a week ago, asking if we were a couple, and I said, “no way!” and looked at the woman and realization dawned, and asked back, “We are a couple?” out of embarrassment. “Seriously? we are?” “Oopsie,” from me and ran away as fast as I could, but the lady was still behind when I turned around, and how could I get away if I was holding her hand, taking her along. Life is full of surprises. This is definitely not something I regret.